AGE's Gold Commentary

AGE Gold Commentary is our regular report analyzing trends in precious metals and rare coins. We monitor domestic and international markets and extrapolate from our 30 years in metals to place current events into a hard asset perspective. View archives.

8/4/2026: Iran reaches for greater Gulf control

Source:

Volatility surged in global markets following Iran's drone strikes on a major US staging base in Jordan on July 28. Iranian proxies also hit an LNG export terminal in the Mediterranean Sea just off the Egyptian coast. In doing so, Iran intentionally picked a bigger fight, apparently attempting to widen the conflict and draw the entire Gulf region into it. The US responded in kind, which created turmoil in the oil and financial markets.

While the Fed held the federal funds rate steady at last week's FOMC meeting, US equity, Treasury, and currency markets were anything but steady, tumbling sharply before rebounding. What remained steady through all this turmoil? Gold, which continues to probe higher.

In this AGE Gold Commentary, recorded on Sunday August 2, I will explain how global markets are becoming more sensitive and fragile because of the whiplash-effects of the war with Iran and the shifting flows of oil resulting from it. And we'll talk about gold's role and outlook during these volatile times.

You can also view this video on the AGE YouTube channel, which includes a transcript.

Sincerely,

Dana Samuelson
President